NORMAN — Father Herman Joseph Foken is being remembered as the shy, soft-spoken priest who helped merge two parishes into St. Joseph Catholic Church.
“He was a dear, sweet, sweet man,” said Rosemary Richards, a long-time church member and secretary for the church. “I just loved how he was so generous and kindhearted to people.”
Foken died Sunday at 93. A vigil service will be at 7 p.m. today at St. Joseph with a reception to follow. Funeral Mass will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Joseph.
Foken spent more than 60 years as a priest, including 40 years serving churches in Wagoner and Muskogee, said Monsignor Gregory Gier, rector of Holy Family Cathedral in Tulsa and a former associate of Foken.
“He was actually a missionary priest who came to Oklahoma as part of the Glenmary Missionaries,” said Gier, who worked with Foken in 1981 to 1983. “When he found out what Oklahoma is all about, he decided to stay in Oklahoma. It was a combination of his love of the Roman Catholic faith and a love of his people.”
He first came to Muskogee in 1951 as pastor of the Church of the Assumption. During his 11-year tenure, he was founding pastor to St. Brigid Catholic Church in Tahlequah, St. Francis Xavier Church in Sallisaw and St. John in Cookson. He served a church in Oklahoma City from 1962 to 1971 and St. John Catholic Church, McAlester, from 1971 to 1981. He then returned to Muskogee as pastor of Assumption and Sacred Heart Catholic Churches.
Gier said he worked with Foken to join the two parishes. Planning for the merger began in 1983. The merger was complete when St. Joseph opened in 1992. Foken retired a few years after the new church was born.
Gier remembered Foken as being “immensely kind.”
“He was strong-willed in the old-fashioned, German sense of the word, but when he worked with me he was open to processing new ways of doing things,” he said. “His staff cared for him immensely. He loved people and loved photography.”
Landscapes and other photographs Foken had taken will be displayed at the reception, along with photographs of his distinguished time of service.
“The lens enabled him to see; he had very poor eyesight,” Gier said. He said Foken also was a big supporter of Catholic schools.
Richards said Foken was very humble.
“He was never afraid to say, ‘I’m sorry,’” she said.
